To the edge of virtual reality and back again

Heroism … where art thou

Not sure how many of you have come across this but for me the sense of herioc adventurer is seemingly lacking in current mmo’s.

I mean I spend a good proportion of my time, killing monsters, loot monsters, sell loot, buy a different sword, kill another series of monster, loot mosnter, sell loot and buy a different sword …

To me I like to play games to get a feeling of accomplishment. I want to slay that dragon to save the town its been terrorising. Not because I want that big phat glowy sword that the dragon has stashed on its body some where, why it has it who knows … but damn its glowy…

I really dont want to spend my time dicking about at auction houses, shop keepers. I want to be a hero, not an arms dealer …

So why is it 90 % of Mmo’s are this way ? … is it possible that we are just that easy to please with carrot on a stick gaming ? personally I want more … I want heroism, i want damnsels in distress wearing impossibly skimpy clothes, I want a towns adoration, I want dragons to tremble at the thought Im coming for them …

I’m in the same boat – there’s a lot of powergamer in me, but I’m also a huge fantasy buff. I read a lot, so I want to experience those kinds of stories in my MMOs. Of course, then you get into the “if everyone is a hero, is anyone really a hero” type dilemma. Which leads me to pimp one of Aaron’s latest articles at Anyway Games (AGC: Evan Skolnick) where he deals with the issue of “Does everyone really want to be the hero?”.

I’ve said the same thing many times over the past year, though I do appreciate Aaron’s use of the Incredibles quote, I’ll have to remember that one.

When we’re a hero in an ocean of heroes, we’re all pretty average, indeed.

Sure, a lot of us want to be the super-hero of legend who saves the world. Many others have no desire whatsoever. Others still are content, if not happy, to be a part of the process, to play a role in helping the hero save the world.

But, other than the high fantasy “save the world” stories, what is a hero? Are you a hero, even for a moment, if you make a call on your cell phone to get the police or wrecker to assist a driver stuck on the side of the highway as you pass by? If you get a little old lady’s kitty out of a tree? If you perform the Heimlich on a stranger at a restaurant? Compared to slaying the Demon Lord from Depths of Hades bent on enslaving the innocents of the world, those deeds are mundane, yet to the individuals at that time, perhaps you truly were a hero.

Yet I fail to see how killing ten godamned rats for some schmuck NPC is heroic to anyone involved… Quest authors: you’ve failed beyond your worst nightmares. Now wake up and get to work.

While we cannot be the One and Only Hero Who Saves the World in an MMORPG, there are ways already out there to encourage the *perception* of being a hero, even for a short time.

Guild Wars uses cut-scenes to tell the story. The scenes star your group, with the group leader also being the main person in the group who stars in the cut-scenes. Where’s the fan faire for downing Onyxia or any other boss in WoW? Nowhere. People love the cut-scenes in LOTRO, however. The only improvement I’d make (and perhaps I just haven’t noticed it if it’s already there) is the option to skip it. GW has a skip, but has to be a majority vote, which can be good and bad.

Guild Wars 2 will have a Hall of Monuments to display all the accomplishments, titles, etc. that your GW1 characters achieved, since characters do not transfer from 1 to 2.

LOTRO (and I think WoW did a little of this but not nearly enough) also keeps track of your accomplishments and certain NPC’s will comment on them. It’s a private thing, no one else sees the text, they may even been seeing that text directed at them, but it’s a nice touch that gives the *perception* that these people have noticed your character, that your characters actions made an impact.

DDO implemented a system recently that announces all raid victories and failures. Nice idea, and sure it gives the raid leader props (or laughs?) by naming them in the announcement. Unfortunately they also chose to display that text in a huge font dead-center in your screen with no means whatsoever to squelch it, so in the next content update that’s going away. Putting that concept to better use though would be great. Perhaps town criers or barkers, such as the dwarves who patrol Ironforge but only get used during holiday events could instead prop the raid leaders or guilds or whatever who are victories in raids.

Chronicles of Spellborn will be putting statues of top characters in-game for all to see. Whether it’s for the top PvP or those completing certain high-end quests, the statue will be a snapshot of your character in whatever gear he happens to be wearing at the time.

I can think of other ways, but even what I listed here already exists, they’re just underutilized or we only see one feature per game. When we start seeing multiple means of the game recognizing our individual achievements, we just might feel a little more heroic.